Maomao: "It's for medical experiments!"
Ed: "Cool motive, still self-harm."

"Wow these women are way too white"  "Did you guys know there was makeup back then, it had poison and stuff in it? It was really dangerous."  "I have no clue what's wrong with them or the babies."

And then the reveal :face-blue-smiling:

The way Maomao, earlier in the episode, calls the courtesans sister and later mentions growing up in brothels, her mentioning that courtesans have died due ot the face powder makes it clear why it clearly dredges up awful memories for her. But I love that the anime trusts the viewer to make that connection without a clue by four on their part.

"Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn, or Fuck"
... PFFFFFFT!!! 😂😂😂 I AIN'T EVER HEARD THOSE LAST TWO!
WHAT THE FUCK?! 😂😂😂

The best way I can describe this show is that ignorance can either be a sin or it could be a comedy

We believe in Maomao supremacy.

Me: no one can figure this out from just the opening.
Psychiatrist: Hold my beverage

Just a clarification as the subtitles didn't explain it well, there are not 2,000 concubines in the Rear Garden, there are 2,000 women made up of concubines and servants. Given the number of servants needed to make the food, do the laundry, clean, as well as directly serve the concubines, the number is closer to 200 concubines and 1800 servant girls. Also the idea of a concubine is a bit different here, they are married to the emperor, and he is duty-bound to provide for them, and they are likewise duty-bound to be loyal to the Emperor. Most of them though are political marriages with noble families and wealthy merchants offering up a daughter as a political move to gain favor with the Emperor. The Emperor would only be sleeping with concubines he takes an interest in, so most of them have likely never been touched by him or anyone. The women he is interested in are sort of competing to see who can provide a male heir that survives, and that woman would become Empress. The servants are mostly under two year contracts where their families sold their services to the palace in exchange for a monthly payment that comes out of the servant's earnings. This is to generate extra money for the household and to have one less mouth to feed. The people who kidnapped her are claiming to be her family so that they get paid a percentage of her earnings, which is why Maomao was so reluctant to reveal her literacy which would raise the amount of money her kidnappers would get.

Took this list from comments under opening, adding to it flower language meanings for them:
(Note, almost every flower in this series is also associated with a character)

Azalea - youth, reminder of time spent at home
Mother’s Choice - compassion, good luck, prosperity
Balloon Flower - perseverance and endurance
Lavender Trumpet - love and devotion, connections to people and places
Meadow Daisy  - purity, innocence, childhood, renewal, hope.
Common Hawthorn  - harmony and balance, luck and fortune.
Toad Lily  - fertility
Clivia Miniata / Kafir lily Flower - fortitude, unyielding / rebirth and admiration
Plum Blossom / Apricot Blossom Flower - courage, persistence, and overcoming misfortune / beauty, resilience, and renewal
Chrysanthemum Morifolium  - devoted love, loyalty, happiness, longevity, and joy
White Lisianthus  - gratitude and appreciation, charisma
Cattleya  - endurance and resilience, elegance
Lily of the Valley  - happiness, luck, purity
Closed Rose Bud - admiration
Peony  - same as mother's choice, they're both peonies
Creeping Woodsorrel - doesn't have a "meaning", only name translation - sharp and sour. Fun fact, it's common name is "cat's foot", wonder who it represents ehehehe

Every single one of these flowers is either poisonous or has healing properties if applied properly. Amazing detail

Was kinda worried that there wouldn't be much to talk about, but i glad this episode proved me wrong.
Maomao such a good written character, she alone would probably steal 50% of analysis time. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to love Xiaolan, the best source of gossips in the whole rear palace, all coated up in pure adorable-ness!

17:47 "back finally, still on the OP"
Ya God damn right we are! 😂

Hearing you talk about this is helping me understand the show way better.
And also is making my desire for you to watch dungeon meshi even stronger. The characters in that show are so amazing, as well as so relatable.

Apothecary is such a good material for analysis!

In regards to checking for disease, like in modern times it really came down to status, wealth and clientele.
A high class brothel like the verdigris house would have taken exceptionally good care of their workers, which included regular health checks. Simply also for reputation.
The bigger hurdle was actually detecting the diseases before they developed symptoms.

Aoi yuki giving voices to the best female characters out there

MAOMAO TIME
Very happy that we got Apothecary Diaries on the list, I had a feeling you'd be eating it up but I didn't expect the ep 1 analysis to go that hard

I love how he calls the fact that the freckles are fake, but the reason why he went there is incorrect (there ARE animes that draw freckles that way)

So death by motorboat is one of Ed's fears.

Ed's wizardry starting right up from the opening is just chef kiss. I'm happy to start his reaction 6 months late